The Mystery of Your Gift: Josh Groban’s “Hidden Gems” Collects Deep Cuts, Rarities
Earlier this year, Josh Groban debuted Gems, a new collection that coincided with his Las Vegas residency of the same name. Now, just in time for the holiday season, the crossover superstar is unveiling a companion album. On November 14, Groban will release Hidden Gems, an eleven-track single-CD or digital compilation bringing together one new song, two tracks new to CD, and eight rarities released on various albums and exclusive editions over the years.
Hidden Gems spans 2004 through the present day, with the earliest track being Groban’s contribution to the soundtrack of director Wolfgang Petersen’s epic film Troy. “Remember” was penned by the singer with composer James Horner and lyricist Cynthia Weil of Mann and Weil fame. Other movie songs featured here include “The Mystery of Your Gift” from the 2014 drama Boychoir and “Konosaki No Michi” from Japanese miniseries Makete katsu, or The Win After the Lose. The latter track held personal significance for Groban as he performed it in Japanese, a language which he had studied in his high school days.
“With You” and “My Heart Was Home Again” are both culled from a Hallmark-exclusive EP sold in that chain’s stores in 2007; “My Heart” was produced by David Foster, who also helmed the cover here of Charlie Chaplin’s standard “Smile” from the “Internet Edition” of Groban’s Awake album. The vocalist tackles Sia’s songbook with “Everything You Needed,” a bonus track on the Target edition of his 2018 album Bridges; the pop star (and songwriter of the recent off-Broadway hit Saturday Church) gifted him with the ballad. In addition to “With You,” Groban co-wrote “Signs.”
The two most recent cuts on Hidden Gems are his 2020 digital-only cover of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Empty Sky” in a studio recording with Steve Jordan, Isaiah Sharkey, and Pino Palladino; and the previously unreleased “Constant,” written by Groban and the team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (The Greatest Showman, Dear Evan Hansen). Tipping the hat to John, Groban plays piano on “Empty Sky.”
Hidden Gems follows a period of busy activity for Groban including playing the lead role in the 2023 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for which he received a Tony Award nomination. The collection arrives on November 14 from Reprise. You’ll find the track listing and pre-order links below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Josh Groban, Hidden Gems (Reprise, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- The Constant
- Signs
- Everything You Needed
- The Mystery of Your Gift (feat. Brian Byrne and The American Boychoir)
- Smile
- With You
- My Heart Was Home Again
- Konosaki No Michi
- Remember
- Solo Esta Soledad – Arturo Sandoval with Josh Groban
- Empty Sky
Track 1 previously unreleased
Tracks 2-3 from Bridges [Target-exclusive edition], Reprise 573225-2, 2018
Track 4 released digitally, 2015
Track 5 from Awake: Internet Edition, 143/Reprise 43258-2, 2006
Tracks 6-7 from With You, Hallmark XPR 4023, 2007
Track 8 from All That Echoes [Japan-exclusive edition], Reprise (Japan) WPCR-14910, 2013
Track 9 from Troy: Music from the Motion Picture, Warner Sunset 48798-2, 2004
Track 10 from Arturo Sandoval, Ultimate Duets, Universal B0028392-02, 2018
Track 11 released digitally, 2020
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